Patient Privacy

Aveanna Healthcare Faces Lawsuit Over Monthlong Data Breach

by Jessica Davis

Georgia-based Aveanna Healthcare is facing a class-action lawsuit filed by more than 100 patients impacted by a monthlong data breach from 2019. Over 166,000 patients were affected by the security...

Sens. Propose Bill to Regulate Privacy of COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps

by Jessica Davis

Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, and Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, recently introduced privacy legislation designed to protect the data collected, used, and maintained by COVID-19 contact tracing apps...

COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps Spotlight Privacy, Security Rights

by Jessica Davis

Contact tracing app initiatives have emerged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a modern enhancement to traditional methods for tracking the spread of the virus, finding new infections, and...

Congressional Bills Target COVID-19 Contract Tracing App Privacy

by Jessica Davis

A group of Congressional Democrats proposed privacy legislation designed ensure the privacy and security of proposed COVID-19 contact tracing apps. Senate Republicans released a competing privacy bill...

AMA Shares Privacy Principles for Non-HIPAA Covered Entities, Data

by Jessica Davis

The American Medical Association unveiled a set of privacy principles for non-HIPAA covered entities, designed to empower consumers with more control over the health data collected about them. AMA will...

FTC Seeks Comment on Breach Notification Rule for Health Data

by Jessica Davis

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking comment from industry stakeholders on breach notification requirements for entities that collect personally identifiable health information but aren’t...

Insights into HHS COVID-19 HIPAA Waivers and Lasting Implications

by Jessica Davis

The nationwide public health emergency brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak has led to several Good Faith HIPAA waivers from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office for Civil Rights. The waivers aim to fuel data sharing...

OCR Shares COVID-19 Privacy and Security Threat Resources

by Jessica Davis

The Office for Civil Rights issued a list of COVID-19-related cyber threat resources for covered healthcare providers to help the sector best prevent, detect, respond, and recover from privacy and...

COVID-19: OCR Reminds Providers of Media Access Restrictions to PHI

by Jessica Davis

The Office for Civil Rights issued a reminder to healthcare providers that even amid the COVID-19 crisis, the HIPAA Privacy Rule does not permit them to give site access to media and other film...

APT Hackers Targeting Healthcare, Essential Services Amid COVID-19

by Jessica Davis

Healthcare organizations and other essential services are again being warned that advanced persistent threat (APT) hacking groups are continuing to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic; this time to actively...

Ciitizen: ‘Significant Improvement’ in HIPAA Right of Access Compliance

by Jessica Davis

Ciitizen released its third Patient Record Scorecard, which found significant improvements in the number of providers in compliance with the HIPAA Right of Access rule. In fact, the number of...

NSA Shares Cybersecurity Guidance, Assessments for COVID-19 Telework

by Jessica Davis

The National Security Agency recently shared cybersecurity guidance with high-level security tool assessments to help organizations select and safely use collaboration services to support the increase...

Apple, Google Address COVID-19 Contact Tracing App Privacy Concerns

by Jessica Davis

Apple and Google updated their initial COVID-19 contract tracing app proposal to address feedback from industry stakeholders and some of the privacy concerns raised after the tech giants announced...

Judge Approves $8.9M Banner Health Settlement Over 2016 Data Breach

by Jessica Davis

A Federal judge of the US District Court of Arizona has given final approval for the class-action lawsuit against Banner Health, stemming from its June 2016 data breach that impacted more than 3.7...

ACLU, Scientists Urge Privacy Focus for COVID-19 Tracing Technology

by Jessica Davis

As Google, Apple, and others work to develop COVID-19 contact tracing technology, the American Civil Liberties Union and a group of 200 scientists are warning of potential privacy risks posed by these...

Congress Presses Kushner on COVID-19 Health Data Surveillance Project

by Jessica Davis

Several members of Congress are pressing White House Advisor Jared Kushner amid privacy concerns, after reports showed the White House has assembled technology and healthcare firms to develop an...

OCR Lifts HIPAA Penalties for COVID-19 Community-Based Testing Sites

by Jessica Davis

The Office for Civil Rights announced yet another enforcement discretion during the Coronavirus pandemic, lifting potential HIPAA penalties related to noncompliance for covered entities and business...

Privacy Groups Urge Pence to Combat COVID-19 Fraud, Patient Harms

by Jessica Davis

A group of more than 30 national advocacy, industry, and research groups are calling on Vice President Mike Pence and the White House Coronavirus Task Force, the Department of Justice, and the Food and...

Sens. Probe Privacy, Cybersecurity of Apple COVID-19 Screening Tools

by Jessica Davis

Apple recently announced the launch of a new COVID-19 screening app and website based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In response, a group of Senators are looking into...

Zoom to Halt Feature Development to Bolster Privacy, Security for COVID-19

by Jessica Davis

Zoom announced it plans to enact a freeze on all feature development and shift its engineering resources for the next 90 days to focus on privacy and security issues, in light of recent cybersecurity...